Hey, Fedi.
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1. The largest ant to ever walk the earth (that we know of) is the extinct species known as "Titanomyrma" The fossilized queens of this species were about the size of hummingbirds.
2. Carpenter ants sleep in a cuddle pile inside of their homes in rotting logs, like puppies.
3. Camponotus rectangularis is a carpenter ant with a wide head and simple black eyes. She gets her second name from her rectangle-shaped thorax.
4. The oldest verified ant queen lived over three decades.
@futurebird @ShaulaEvans @5ciFiGirl Ohhhhh, cooooooooool.
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@robtherunt @ShaulaEvans They tend to spread. You may get several this year. And if there are cinnabar moths in the vicinity then you'll probably end up with loads of them once they figure out that you have their favourite food on hand..
@statsguy @robtherunt @ShaulaEvans there's an Irish folk tale that a man caught a pixie, who demanded to be set free. The man said he would free him if he answered one question, where he had buried his hoard of gold. So the pixie pointed to the ragwort flower he had buried it under and the man let him go. "Haha!" said the pixie. "This field is full of ragwort! You'll never find one yellow flower in a whole field of yellow flowers!" "Not so!" said the man, and he took the orange and black striped
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Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans Gynandropmorphism, though very rare, is a real-world and highly visible example of animals being both a 'boy and a girl' at the same time. It is something observed in Lepidoptera and other bugs, in addition to many other animals:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gynandromorphism -
@ShaulaEvans Maybe not as cool as some of the other responses you're getting but one bug I genuinely love is the cinnabar moth.
They lay their eggs on the ragwort plant, which then turn into really beautiful stripy caterpillars. The caterpillars can completely destroy the foliage of a whole plant.
Many people consider ragwort to be a weed (it can be toxic to horses) and pull it up, but I always let any in my garden grow.
@statsguy
I always let it grow too. Apart from anything else the yellow flowers are nice and bright!
@ShaulaEvans -
@robtherunt @ShaulaEvans They tend to spread. You may get several this year. And if there are cinnabar moths in the vicinity then you'll probably end up with loads of them once they figure out that you have their favourite food on hand..
@statsguy @ShaulaEvans
I heard a podcast last year with a ragwort specialist on it who said that they actually don’t spread that dramatically. Most seeds don’t set and the ones that do are very close to the original plant. They grow back more from the root. And if you’re thinking then pull them up, damaged roots get stronger. It’s all very counter intuitive apparently.Anyway, here’s a shortened version of a video I took of ours. Sound up!
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@statsguy @robtherunt @ShaulaEvans there's an Irish folk tale that a man caught a pixie, who demanded to be set free. The man said he would free him if he answered one question, where he had buried his hoard of gold. So the pixie pointed to the ragwort flower he had buried it under and the man let him go. "Haha!" said the pixie. "This field is full of ragwort! You'll never find one yellow flower in a whole field of yellow flowers!" "Not so!" said the man, and he took the orange and black striped
@statsguy @robtherunt @ShaulaEvans handkerchief that was tied around his neck and tied it on to the ragwort stem and then went home for his supper, whistling a tune and feeling very pleased with himself. But the next morning when he came back with a spade to dig up the treasure he couldn't believe his eyes - every plant in the field was covered in orange and black striped caterpillars and he couldn't spot his handkerchief, and so the clever pixie kept his treasure.
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@ShaulaEvans the UK giant willow aphid is the UK's biggest aphid, entirely female and reproduces by parthenogenesis and lives on willow trees in the spring and summer but we still have no idea where they go in winter.
@afewbugs
Aphids are born pregnant. They are some of the most rapidly multiplying animals. If lady bugs (their primary predator) were to go extinct, we'd be up to our literal asses in aphids in a few months.Also aphids are one of the only animals to have been domesticated by non-human animals, as far as we know. Leaf-cutter ants raise them for food. They don't eat them, but lick their butts, where they secrete a sugary nectar.
@ShaulaEvans -
@ShaulaEvans Honey bee larvae grow in closed cells in the hive, and because they don't want to get that dirty by pooping all over it they have no anuses. After metamorphosis into their adult form they fly out of the hive, see the sun and the world for the first time and respond by taking a massive dump
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@StevenLawsonPhotography @ShaulaEvans Male scorpion flies offer a piece of prey (smaller insects) to the females. The females feed on it while mating takes place.
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Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans OH BOY. Saving this to come back to once I've had tea.
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@statsguy @robtherunt @ShaulaEvans handkerchief that was tied around his neck and tied it on to the ragwort stem and then went home for his supper, whistling a tune and feeling very pleased with himself. But the next morning when he came back with a spade to dig up the treasure he couldn't believe his eyes - every plant in the field was covered in orange and black striped caterpillars and he couldn't spot his handkerchief, and so the clever pixie kept his treasure.
@afewbugs @robtherunt @ShaulaEvans What a lovely story!
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@ShaulaEvans woodlice/pillbugs are crustaceans.
They are more closely related to lobsters than anything else you might find in the garden. This is where they get their segmented exoskeleton and 14 legs.@jetlagjen @ShaulaEvans Do y'all have lawn crayfish in the UK? https://www.texasstandard.org/stories/crawfish-in-your-lawn-hope-youre-ok-with-that/
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Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans
*Reads
*Gets excited
*Get to the insects hashtag-Oh 🥲
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Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans accept my photos of the bedazzling Golden Tortoise Beetle. Revel in the splendour
#photo #photography #insects #wildlife
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@annehargreaves @jetlagjen @ShaulaEvans there are so many names for pill bugs in the English-speaking world (cannot speak to other languages on this)
Monkeypeas was the one where I grew up (SE England)
They also come in orangey/ginger variants!
@noodlemaz @annehargreaves @jetlagjen @ShaulaEvans link to the map of names here so I don't have to do the alt text again: https://social.coop/@afewbugs/115179785360374734
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@afewbugs
Aphids are born pregnant. They are some of the most rapidly multiplying animals. If lady bugs (their primary predator) were to go extinct, we'd be up to our literal asses in aphids in a few months.Also aphids are one of the only animals to have been domesticated by non-human animals, as far as we know. Leaf-cutter ants raise them for food. They don't eat them, but lick their butts, where they secrete a sugary nectar.
@ShaulaEvans -
Hey, Fedi. I have a favour to ask you. Help me help a friend. (Not financial!)
I have a friend who is all about cool bug facts. They're going through an intense patch in their life, so I would like to send them some bug facts to cheer them up. But this is really their thing, so basic search engine results aren't going to new to them.
If there's a cool bug fact that you genuinely love, could you tell me? I'll save them to share with my friend over time. 1/n
@ShaulaEvans That House Pseudoscorpions are aracnids, tiny, venomous, and possibly in their house eating other bugs.
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@sillyCoelophysis
You wish you secreted a sugary nectar out your ass.
@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans -
@sillyCoelophysis
You wish you secreted a sugary nectar out your ass.
@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans@Mux @sillyCoelophysis @ShaulaEvans congratulations you win "best out of context toot of 2026 to date2
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@sillyCoelophysis
You wish you secreted a sugary nectar out your ass.
@afewbugs @ShaulaEvans
